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CHAPTER XXV
Circa 1820—1837
PROGRESS
"Progress is
The law of life—man's self is not yet man,
Nor shall I deem his object served, his end
Attained, his genuine strength put fairly forth,
While only here and there a star dispels
The darkness, here and there a towering mind
O'erlooks its prostrate fellows."
GEORGE III. died in 1820, but he had ceased to reign for the past ten years. "All the world knows the story of his malady; history presents no sadder figure than that of the old man, blind and deprived of reason, wandering through the rooms of his Palace, addressing imaginary Parliaments, reviewing fancied troops, holding ghostly Courts." Sightless, deaf, imbecile, yet still dignified with a long snowy beard,
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